UPDATE - FERC says Calif power suppliers owed $1.2 bln
Thursday December 12, 4:55 pm ET
By Chris Baltimore
WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Energy companies that supplied electricity to California during the state's 2000-01 power crisis are still owed $1.2 billion in unpaid bills, a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission judge said on Thursday.
The administrative law judge recommended the $1.2 billion in payments to Williams Cos. Inc. (NYSE:WMB - News), Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE:DUK - News), Enron Corp. (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK - News) and others as part of a massive case involving the rapid rise in wholesale electricity prices that rocked California in 2000-01.
It was not immediately clear how the ruling by FERC Judge Bruce Birchman would affect California's longstanding demand for some $8.9 billion in refunds from the same suppliers for alleged price-gouging.
Birchman's ruling will go to FERC's three commissioners who can accept, reject or modify it.
Last month, the FERC gave California 100 extra days to introduce new evidence on possible manipulation of the market when prices jumped tenfold, triggering blackouts. That new information was not weighed by Birchman in his decision.
The judge's 239-page decision proposed a complex method for calculating possible refunds, based on daily activity in the California market during several crucial months when prices were soaring.
He emphasized that energy firms are still owed money by the grid operator California Independent System Operator (ISO) for unpaid supply bills.
"Suppliers are owed $1.2 billion even after the ISO (and now defunct California) PX (Power Exchange) refunds of $1.8 billion act as offsets to the $3.0 billion still owed to suppliers," Birchman wrote in his decision.
The lengthy ruling covered such issues as whether a host of claimed transactions were non-spot trades, the emissions costs and environmental compliance fees claimed by power sellers and the California Power Exchange's own refund calculations.
The California PX was launched in March 1998 under the state's failed power deregulation legislation, which required most utilities to buy their supplies through it. The power auction filed for bankruptcy in March 2001, and still holds more than $2.2 billion in collateral and in its settlement clearing account.
Power suppliers have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or price-gouging.
Other companies involved in the case include Mirant Corp. (NYSE:MIR - News), and Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN - News).
The FERC judge's ruling was issued in docket EL00-95. |
